Greek Sculpture. Edmund von Mach

failed, long before it had reached a decline. An important historical event must have occurred, probably the Dorian invasion. Not occuring at once, but extending over a period of at least a century. The country was well settled, and when the Dorians kept pushing from the north, many of the old inhabitants had to yield and leave their homes. Most of the people of the Peloponnesos probably emigrated to Asia Minor, while those that remained, like the Messenians, were doomed to eternal slavery. In the turmoil of readjustment no time was left for artistic expressions. Ruskin once said, “Art is possible only, when after satisfying the needs of daily life, there is enough mental and physical energy left for ‘play’ “; and during these times of struggle, when some were defending their old homes and others were fighting for their new country, neither time nor energy could be spared for “play”. By 1000 B. C. the Dorians were in place, yet centuries had to pass before conditions became settled. These three hundred and fifty years to the beginning of historic Greece carry well the name “Greece dark middle ages”. They are indeed dark, with but one ray of light – the Homeric poems. It matters little whether the Iliad and the Odyssey were written by one man, or whether they were the compilation of many poets; whether they were first sung in the ninth century or only shortly before 650 B. C. The important fact is that subsequent to the downfall of the Mycenaean civilisation, and before the dawn of historic times, there were people who could sing such songs and others who could enjoy them.

      Scene with Bull and Acrobats, Knossos Palace, Crete, 1700–1400 B. C. Fresco, 62.3 cm. Archaeological Museum, Heraklion.

      Pendant with Bees, Royal Necropolis, Malia, 1700–1600 B. C. Gold. Archaeological Museum, Heraklion.

      The “Agamemnon” Mask, tomb V, Mycenae, c. 1600–1500 B. C. Gold, h: 31.5 cm. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

      Mortuary Mask, Mycenae, c. 1600–1500 B. C. Gold, h: 20.5 cm. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

      Примечания

      1

      Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768): One of the founders of modern art history. In 1755, he published his famous Gedanken über die Nachahmung der Griechischen Werke in der Mahlerey und Bilderkunst (Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works) in Rome, that made him famous. There, Winckelmann worked as librarian to Alberico Cardinal Archinto (1698–1758), the papal secretary of state and to Cardinal Albani, one of the great connoisseurs of the eighteenth century. By 1763, Winckelmann became the prefect of antiquities of the Vatican (as Raphael once was). In 1764, he published Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums (History of Ancient Art), where he founds the linear-style periodi

Примечания

1

Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768): One of the founders of modern art history. In 1755, he published his famous Gedanken über die Nachahmung der Griechischen Werke in der Mahlerey und Bilderkunst (Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works) in Rome, that made him famous. There, Winckelmann worked as librarian to Alberico Cardinal Archinto (1698–1758), the papal secretary of state and to Cardinal Albani, one of the great connoisseurs of the eighteenth century. By 1763, Winckelmann became the prefect of antiquities of the Vatican (as Raphael once was). In 1764, he published Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums (History of Ancient Art), where he founds the linear-style periodisation of art history. The esthetician Gotthold Ephraim Lessing based much of his ideas of his Laokoön (1766) on Winckelmann’s writing on Greek art.

2

Sir Robert Ball (1840–1913): Victorian astronomer.

3

Emmanuel Löwy (1857–1938): Austrian archaeologist. Professor of archaeology at the University of Rome (1891–1915) and Vienna (1918–1938), he specialised in ancient Greek painting.

4

Eden Musée: Wax Museum in Manhattan, owned originally by Leonard Sutton.

5

John Ruskin (1819–1900): Art critic, author of two influential books on artists and architecture. He graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1842, after a trip to Italy in 1840, where he embraced Venetian painting and architecture. His first great writing was Modern Painters (1843–60) originally written to honour Turner’s paintings. Then, he published Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) and The Stones of Venice (1851). Slade Professor of art at Oxford between 1870 and 1879 and again, 1883–84, his later writings are devoted to social reform which consumed him his last years.

6

The quotations from Ruskin in this chapter are taken from his Aratra Pentelici, Six Lectures on Sculpture.

7

Horatio Greenough (1805–1852): American Neo-classical sculptor. He made a large statue of Georges Washington commissioned by the Congress of the United States in 1832. Not conformed to the American taste, his classical style caused much controversy. This statue is now displayed in the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

8

Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484–1558): Italian humanist, physician and scholar. Known for his scientific and philosophical writings, he published two major texts: De causis linguae latinae (1540) and Poetics (1561).

9

Sir Charles Eastlake (1793–1865): English painter. Raised to the presidency of the Royal Academy in 1850 he became the Director of the National Gallery in London between 1855 and 1865.

10

The uneven ground occurs on the frieze of the Theseion in Alheim, built before the Parthenon. The Parthenon sculptors, therefore, were familiar with it, and consciously rejected it.

11

Bronze preponderated over marble, with the exception of temple sculpture, at the rate of four or five to one. Accurate figures at present cannot be obtained. The preponderance, however, of bronze over marble is proved beyond a doubt.

12

Edward Robinson (1858–1931): Museum director. Graduated from Harvard in 1879, where he lectured on classical antiquities between 1893 and 1994, again between 1897 and 1902. He was appointed Director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts between 1902 and 1905 and Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York between 1910 and 1931. His role as Director occurred at a time when conception of museums was changing and his legacy was composed as much of plaster cast as of original classical objects.

13

Further development in Century Magazine, 1892; and The Hermes of Praxiteles ami the Venus (ienettix, Experiments in restoring the Colour of Greek Sculpture by f. L. Smith described and explained by Edward Robinson (Boston, 1892).

14

The most important have been made on casts in the Albertinum